The manager of a homeowner association (HOA) recently contacted Access Fixtures seeking lighting for a sloped walkway that led to a building entrance in a gated community. There was a standard high pressure sodium wall pack affixed to a nearby building wall, but the light it offered wasn’t enough to make the walkway safe.
How Much Light Does a Walkway Require?
The first step we had to take was to determine how much light this customer actually needed. The walkway was five feet wide and thirty feet long with a fifteen-foot landing outside the front door. Some light reached the walkway from the wall pack and from the windows of the building, but for the most part, it was very dark. The customer considered adding a wall pack near the entrance to the building but was hoping to find a more effective solution. He wanted to find sufficient and reasonable lighting for the walkway and ramp.
An Access Fixtures lighting specialist considered the use of the walkway and the level of existing ambient light to make an informed decision. Together with the HOA manager, they determined that all parts of the walkway should have approximately one foot-candle of light. The lighting specialist then suggested installing a series of energy-efficient LED bollard lights along the walkway at regular intervals to achieve the desired result.
Finding the Right Bollard Light
Bollards are available in a variety of styles and lamp types, making them a flexible lighting option for commercial and residential lighting. The HOA manager liked the style of the louvered bollards. However, photometric analyses of the different kinds of bollards showed that achieving the footcandle requirements with louvered bollards required more fixtures than necessary.
The Access Fixtures lighting specialist suggested the 15w USA LED Round Dome Top Bollard Lights with a specialized aluminum cone. This option saved the HOA manager hundreds of dollars by reducing the number of fixtures while still providing sufficient lighting for the walkway.
The LEDs in the specialized aluminum cone bollards face downward and emit light down and out. Light is also reflected off the cone, which increases the light output. The bollards are energy-efficient and are rated to last over 50,000 hours; they virtually eliminate the hassle and cost of maintenance.
This was just what the HOA manager wanted—five aesthetically pleasing, affordable, evenly spaced bollard lights that illuminated his walkway.
For help finding the right fixture for your commercial, residential, or industrial lighting project, contact the experts at Access Fixtures today!